Exmar Marketing Plan

1. Executive Summary

Background NOTE: THE INTERNATIONAL BEARINGS LTD (IBL) STRATEGIC MARKETING

PLAN IS INTENDED TO BE FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY.

International Bearings Ltd (IBL) was formed in 1965 and in 35 years of trading has expanded

and developed enormously.

The main business of IBL is the sale of a portfolio of bearings and assemblies to a variety of

end-use markets in Europe, in which IBL is a very significant and well established player.

IBL manufactures products in five different locations, each making only part of the product

range to achieve maximum production cost benefits.

Within the various countries in which IBL operates, each country has its own sales

organisation marketing the whole range of products. These national organisations have two

sales forces, one dealing with original equipment manufacturers (OEM's), the other selling

via independent distributors to the replacement market, except for large customers, who are

handled direct.

There is a European marketing organisation responsible for strategy in terms of product range

development, pricing structures, corporate promotion, etc. Under the European Marketing

Director, it is split into product managers who develop strategies for their own products. The

European marketing organisation reports to the Managing Director-Europe, as do the country

general managers, to whom the country sales organisations report.

Objectives From detailed study of past and present performance, though historically successful,

European market share was hovering at around 11% in existing markets and profits have

increased in the last two years. The traditional business had slowed and there had been

limited investment in recent years. IBL has objectives to grow the existing segments and

achieve a 15% market share and develop new markets.

Market Overview The market shares and IBL's position can be seen below in the table.

Market Segment Market Share

1998 2001

Assemblies-Auto 21% 28%

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